GlycoMimetics readies relocation to Rockville

GlycoMimetics Inc., having spent most of 2014 as a public company, is ready for a bigger place.

The Gaithersburg-based biotech (Nasdaq: GLYC) has signed a lease with BioMed Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: BMR) for its next headquarters: A 33,800-square-foot building on the campus of the Center for Life Sciences, Shady Grove. Its current home at 401 Professional Drive encompasses about 20,000 square feet, according to GlycoMimetics' annual statement.

The eight-year lease was signed a month ago, and announced this week. In its most recent quarterly filing, the Maryland company said it will pay about $600,000 in annual base rent for the mix of office and laboratory space at 9708 Medical Center Drive. That term is set to begin in November 2015.

These sorts of intra-MoCo moves aren't uncommon for the biotech sector. The four-building, 200,000-square-foot Shady Grove campus "is ideally located for us in the hub of life science innovation in Montgomery County," said GlyocMimetics CEO Rachel King in a statement.

Her company's most advanced drug candidates, Rivipansel and GMI-1271, target a complication of sickle cell anemia and acute myeloid leukemia, respectively. GlycoMimetics has been recently reaping millions from a Pfizer collaboration on Rivipansel.